Rosacea is a skin condition that manifests itself as red patches around the nose, on the cheeks and sometimes on the chin. In extreme cases, rosacea patients resort to surgical laser treatment, especially when other treatments either fail or cannot treat certain symptoms.

What is Vasodilation?

This skin condition arises due to the extreme and sudden dilation of the fine blood vessels just under the skin’s surface. These are called capillaries.

It is this vasodilation that causes the abnormal and often embarrassing flushing of the face. Sometimes, this can be camouflaged with topical creams and controlled even with oral medication.

But there are two symptoms some patients develop that cannot be treated by either. One is called telangiectasias and the other rhinophyma. Patients usually resort to surgical/laser treatment for both.

Laser Treatment for Telangiectasias

Telangiectasias are a condition that arises when the vascular lesions on the face are pronounced and the capillaries look like criss-crossing threads.

Surgical/laser treatment of telangiectasias uses a pulsed dye laser or a pulsed green laser. The laser trains an intense and very narrow beam of light on the blood vessels and seals them off. The broken vessels then dissolve and disappear into the skin.

Multiple treatments are usually required especially since the blood vessels of the nose are resistant to treatment.

Lasers may produce some bruising but that can be treated with cold compresses or antibiotics during post-operative care. Some crusting of the skin may also take place but that disappears in a week or so. Scarring is very rare.

Surgery for Rhinophyma

The other condition that requires surgical/laser treatment is rhinophyma. This condition is best described as a large, lumpy and bulbous nose that develops in patients with chronic acne and rosacea.

It is a progressive condition and manifests itself usually in older men. This red, lobulated nose is caused by an overgrowth of the sebaceous glands of the nose.

One common misconception is that patients with rhinophyma are heavy drinkers or alcoholics as they too have a ruddy complexion and swollen face.

Types of Lasers

It is unsightly and many patients seek surgical/laser treatment for this condition. In severe cases, this enlarged nose may even obstruct vision.

Surgical treatment involves removal of the excess tissue with a scalpel or a carbon dioxide laser. Some lasers vaporize the fibrous tissue and the nose is thus remodelled with the help of the laser.

The raw skin or epithelium grows back in time as the nose heals. Surgeons sometimes resort to skin grafting.

Surgical/laser treatment is usually performed under local anaesthesia. It’s fairly simple and patients recover quickly.

All about Surgical/Laser Treatment is a post from: Skincare